Very excited to announce this minuscule discovery in an obscure corner of numismatics! One of the most iconic members of the Indo-Sassanian family is the terminus of the third and easternmost "track", attributed to the Pratihara dynasty - the Adivaraha-dramma. It is unique not only for being the least Sassanian of all Indo-sassanian coins, retaining only the vestigial fire altar shaft with highly stylized attendants, but it is also the only coin firmly attributable to both its medieval name in inscriptions and its historic issuer, Mihira Bhoja I, r. 836-885 AD. Obv: Adivaraha, the boar avatar of Vishnu, standing right in heroic pose, stomping on a lion, flanked by Trishula and chakra wheel Rev: Nagari: Sri Ma Madi / Va Ra Ha above vestigial fire altar, flanked by highly stylized attendants Although this coin is a top contender for a lifetime issue, the type was extended for up to a century, becoming more crude but ultimately unchanged until Vinayakapala, who changed the inscription to his own name (and unfortunately I don't have one to share - yet!) To unpack the significance of my new coin, it is important to analyze the types that preceded it. The Adivaraha dramma borrowed the bottom portion of its reverse motif from the "Sri Vi" drachm, which is quite a bit more recognizably Sassanian: The Sri Vi is perhaps either a descendant or at least relative to the Sri Vigra, which have differently styled attendants and importantly replace the fire altar shaft with a letter- either Sa or Ma (here pictured is Ma, the more common). It takes a lot less imagination to unpack the reverse motif here. Before the Sri Vigra were a series of what Maheshwari calls proto Sri Vigra coins, which he believes are anepigraphic, but I am inclined to see a stylized Sri Ja. There are two (or three) fundamental types - Type 1 has a more solid attendant body, where as this coin is Type 2 - the attendant's legs lead directly to her arm. Enter the new coin: I am not fully certain what to make of all this, but let's unpack: - The reverse is clearly an intermediate Adivaraha type; the body disappeared pretty quickly, based on the number of surviving specimens, so let's estimate ca. 900-925 AD here. - The legend seems to read Sri Ma Madi / Va Ra Ha above the fire altar, also in good style reinforcing that this is probably an earlier posthumous type - This coin however has Ma replacing the fire altar shaft, not the "candy bar" that is seen on every other specimen in existence! This is a throwback to the Sri Vigra / Ma type - The attendant however seems to most closely match the Proto Sri Vigra / Type 2 attendant - again unique as every other specimen has the abdomen/legs replaced with the teardrop shape. What it all means? I'm afraid I can't share any earth-shattering insights as of yet, but this initial find proves that the series is perhaps not as straightforward as others such as Maheshwari, Deyell et al initially thought.
Very interesting! This is the kind of work that moves the hobby and scholarship forward, and in an area that greatly needs the attention.
I was once offered about 10 of these and only pulled out the best five. When I weighed them afterwards they were all very close indeed to 4.17g (which I judge is probably the theoretical weight of the late Sasanid drachm) Was annoyed I did not buy the rest, as 10 to that mark would have clinched it. Other similar coins I checked out did not fit the pattern, and yours is just a little corroded too - but still - it would be nice to get the weight Rob T
@Finn235 ......Very interesting write up and nice coins... I have one a Sri Vigra the same as yours with 'MA'..The reverse is offset upwards showing the 3-2-1 dot formation of the flames. I must admit I do like this abstract portrait style....Paul
Thanks all! @EWC3 - I finally had a chance to weigh mine, and it's 4.17g on the money. Do you have pictures of any of the ones you handled? I am very curious to see what else may be visible on the design. It's also curious that a new weight standard would spring up within this series. Normal Adivaraha drachms (both the early and the late types) generally weigh about 3.8g, and it isn't typical to see sudden jumps in weight standards within this series, or at least not half a gram. The fabric of this one is also a bit off... both rounder and a bit thicker than you normally see. Interesting to think of how easily coins like these could slip under the radar and never be picked up by someone interested in understanding them - this is far from the first time I have seen a rare Indo Sassanian go for sale on ebay, and usually if I dont win it, I'll never see it pop up anywhere else online later.
Wow. Interesting. The theoretical figure 4.17g comes this way. Although there is a fair bit of variation in Late Sasanid drachms, they have a very clear peak. For late style K II, most are between c. 4.05g and 4.25g, but with a clear target close to 4.13g. That is not Attic, either theoretical (c. 4.37g) nor practical, (down to c. 4.25g). I suspect it is a return to the Ancient mina of Sumer and Darius of 500g. That predicts a half shekel of 500g/120 = 4.17g. So my guess is Sasanid mint masters were allowed wiggle room of one coin per mina – gets you to 4.13g. Turning now to the Boja coins – unlike Arab and Indo-Moslem issues, I think its fairly unusual for Hindu issues to be very carefully regulated by weight. So this finding sticks out like a sore thumb to me. But a few words of caution. Firstly Wilfried Pieper checked his specimens for me and they did not fit, lighter. So if it is going on, it is only for some of the output – perhaps the earliest batch? Secondly, I am something of a heretic on Statistical methods. For instance, I think the stress on standard deviation arises from incorrect dogmatic decisions about a century ago. But further, I do think very small samples can be significant. What are the odds of finding six coins almost exactly the same weight by accident, in what is a rather scarce issue….. Note that some of the Gold Lakshmi staters, and the Chola silver, seem to have a similar target weight Anyhow, I will probably not take this further, but its something maybe worth digging into…. Rob T
